If you saw the blog yesterday then you saw that my very own *mommy* sent us a fun guest post about saving money by upcycling clothing with a simple, yet fun sewing project.
Well, her sewing bug certainly hit the mark with me and I have been a huge fan of upcycling and creating something from nothing for most of my life. (At one point in my life there was a desire to become a clothing designer. I even made a logo and tags that I sewed into everything I created!)
Photo of a pattern I created for a dress I recently made
As this is one of my biggest hobbies I thought I’d share some links to blogs that I follow that feature upcycling or DIYing fun clothing as well as some links to favorite tutorials.
*If you have any favorites that I am missing I’d love for you to leave a link in the comments!*
LINK #1
To start let me put up a link to a project that I love because I did it! I turned some old tablecloths into a dress for my 27th birthday. Total cost for entire dress $0! Oh, and I made the pattern and did all the sewing and fitting myself so I got to feel incredibly proud that it didn’t fall apart during my night out! Unfortunately I did not create a tutorial for this…
but, it is proof that I’m totally obsessed with this DIY clothing craze!
Me in my handmade birthday dress.
Close up of my hand rolled fabric flowers.
LINKS 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6
Next up are four of my FAVORITE blogs for finding fun sewing or upcycling projects. They are in no certain order as I find equally amazing ideas from all three sites!
2. Grosgrain— Oh dear… I LOVE THIS SITE! She is kind of amazing.
The great things at this site: a month full of FREE PATTERNS, a Frock by Friday , Embellish your Knits Month and a ton of daily inspiration.
3. Sewing in No Man’s Land— Some of the most beautiful sewing I’ve seen in a long time and she shares patterns all the time.
She makes me want a baby girl SO bad. I want to make all the adorable little outfits that she makes for her little one. But, thankfully for me (and my little boy) she also has patterns for women
and adorable little boy pjs!
4. Yours, Mine & Ours— This chic is totally cool. She is all about Free Piling (finding FREE clothing) and thrifting and creating outfits for herself and her family.
I’m really into her outfit posts and her tutorials on how to take-in clothing or alter clothing in ways that make them more palatable to your style and closet.
5. Chic Steals— All kinds of DIY awesomeness. The author of this blog has a funky style with a fashion background and I love seeing all the amazing stuff she DIYs.
6. Made— Okay, this site isn’t just about fashion… there are a ton of amazing posts for parties, home improvement, recipes… etc. BUT, I do love her tutorials and patterns as well. Oh, and it helps that she sews a ton of cute things for BOYS! She even participated in CELEBRATE THE BOY with a TON of tutorials, guest posts and more. Love, love….LOVE this site.
LINK #7
I collect ideas… before the creation of Pinterest I had a file on my computer of photos, tutorials and links that was ridiculous to try to weave through and even harder to post about after losing all of their original poster information. So, I’m a little obsessed about Pinterest and use it ALL the time.
(If you don’t have an account yet and want one please e-mail me
and I will try my best to get you an invitation PRONTO.)
One of my boards on Pinterest is called Sewing and Upstyling and it is where I collect projects that I want to work on or happen to think are pretty awesome. I update it (and my other boards) pretty often so feel free to check it out or follow it!
Here are a couple of my favorite projects from the board (at the moment):
Upcycled T’s turned into bibs from u-createcrafts.com
Reusable Sandwich Bags from wewilsons.blogspot.com
gDiaper insert tutorial from SeeKateSew.com
Are there any amazing sites/projects/tutorials that you think I’d like that I’m missing from this list? Also, what money saving projects are you working on right now?
Author

Jenni is a blogger and marketing professional in Portland, Oregon. A Well Crafted Party is a blog about all the little things to celebrate in life. Follow Jenni or A Well Crafted Party with BlogLovin, RSS feed, Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.

4 Comments

  1. Your list is great and your birthday dress is so cute!

    I wish I had your desire to sew. I love designing (I do it for a career), but I kind of hate sewing. I’ve barely sewn anything besides accessories and curtains since I graduated from design school five years ago. I thought maybe I was just burnt out from all of the projects I had to do in college, but I have had zero desire to pick it up again since. I’m not sure what my problem is.

  2. I love Pinterest! Thanks so much for the invite! And I have a million things listed in my “to make for Christmas gifts” folder that I’ve nabbed from you. So be expecting a zip off apron….

  3. I love the idea of upcycling. I am trying to do more of it, but mostly around non clothing items (it scares me a little as my sewing skills are not great yet). I must say that having a little girl has inspired me to try harder- nothing against boy clothes, but girls clothes seem a little easier due to dresses out of pillow cases, etc. My current favorite person who does upcycling for the family is Amanda Blake Soule. She has two books out (a third on a way) if you aren’t familiar with them: “Handmade Home” and “The creative Family.” I believe she has a blog also, but not sure how often/if she posts free tutorials.

  4. @Kira–Thank you! I understand about being burnt out from sewing. I bring out my sewing machine probably twice a year. 🙂
    @Jill–I can’t wait! 🙂
    @Alyssa–I’m loving all your “sewing” pins on pinterest and hope that you get around to doing some of them! Thanks for the link to soulemama.com as well. I do really like her books!

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